In the days, Kyrie's kept herself within the wagon as much as possible, avoiding the heat the best she can. At nights, she's watched the landscape rush by, once more curious about a new part of the world she's never yet had the chance to see. A little frustratingly for her, their chosen method of travel hasn't given much opportunity for practicing her new techniques, nonstop as it is, but it has given her ample chance to rest; she's finally feeling back to normal but for an occasional soreness.

She's seemed a bit more open too, the stop in her home country (even if just the very edge of such) looking to have refreshed whatever homesickness she may have been feeling, and her recent request having given her a greater curiosity about those she's traveled with for so many weeks. While she's spent much time with Oleai, the others are still something of a mystery to her, one she feels she ought to more uncover. Triya, though...while her changes are certainly intriguing, there's still something she finds a little unsettling about them. Not that she's said such, of course, and not even that it's been anything conscious, but a part of her can't help but give a wary eye whenever she continues her experimentation with her newfound powers. She hasn't quite ignored her, exactly, but there has been a bit of skittishness about her whenever they've spoken.

Nearly midday and seemingly the warmest day yet here (though perhaps that's merely the water starting to run low), Kyrie's as far from the open air as she can manage when the wagon comes to a stop; the first stop since they've left, it immediately piques her interest, especially as she expected to hear more activity about them when they finally reached Partia. Glancing out for barely a minute, she sighs as she notes the sealed gates, tail flicking behind her as she looks across the wagon to Triya. "It looks like the city's closed itself up. Is this common? Do you think we'll be waiting long?"

Being back on the road was such a boon to Oleai's spirit. She was feeling like the bright-eyed Lagomora that had initially set out from Cantiga. Not to mention finally fleeing the rain and the snow. While the exotic was exciting, the open air of the plains and then even the desert had her feeling more herself. (She could also stop lugging around that ugly big brown overcoat) Trading off between spending time in the wagon with Kyrie to sitting stop it playing with her wind magics.

By the second afternoon in the desert, Oleai calmed down a bit. Taking instead to chatting mindlessly about people and customers she'd met in Cantiga. Using her wind magic casually to swirl a breeze in the wagon for everyone.

By the third, the lack of excess water was getting to her. The sight of the city had her standing and pointing, "Lets get in there! How do we do that?"

Triya shook her head, "It's not usual at all; not at this time of day, at least. You expect people to be flowing freely in and out of the city. I might go see if I can figure out what's going on."

Triya had been keeping an eye on the others. Unused as they likely were to the desert, heat and dehydration were ever-present threats. Standing around under the midday sun wasn't likely to help the situation.

Between the mechanical horses and being a tiny figure floating in a translucent blue bubble, Triya was probably going to draw attention, she reflected as she gently bobbed between travelers on her way to the gate. Still, that had its upside - someone was bound to talk to her.

"Excuse me," she said, accosting one of the gate's guards and speaking up to make herself heard, "Could I ask why the gates are closed?"

The guard doesn't seem terribly surprised or put out by the bobbing bubble of magic asking her why the gates are closed. "Clockwork riot in the market." She says simply. "Nobody gets in or out until it's put down."

Triya frowned, "What brought that on?" she asked. She was familiar with Partia's Clockwork population, of course, and that they weren't exactly well treated as refugees, but a riot... That represented an escalation in the usual tensions. Not a welcome one, either.

"Well. If they want a genie, we can oblige them," Triya said, nodding back towards the cart. She had a sneaking suspicion that Sana wouldn't help in quite the way the Crown might want, but she would definitely do her best to stop any fighting. "If you could pass us through?"

Guards fan out to block others from entering while the doors slowly begin to open, and to clear a path for the group to enter. The cart is guided in and the huge doors of the gates slam shut behind them. Within the gates, wide and sprawling streets give way to a huge city with the castle looming in the distance...And the good news, a single airship moored to a tower; the Invincible itself. More closely, however, there's some smoke rising above the rooftops a few blocks away, but the few pedestrians out on the streets right now don't seem concerned at all. And in that direction, a dull din of distant commotion can be heard.

For the nation thought to have the highest Clockwork population, there's..not a single one in sight. Of the dozens of people on the city streets, almost all appear to be human...Though a few lighter colored Nekana are mixed in, as well as a very small number of elves.

Of the humans, though, there appears to be two groups. Almost every adult is accompanied by at least one child, and of the children, at least a third are dressed totally differently than the others. The adults and majority of the children are wearing simple clothes, light and airy. Plain designs at best, and at worst, tatters and old hand-me-downs. The other children, though...They're dressed in bright, resplendent colors with jewelry very high quality materials. A majority seem to have an object somewhere on their person, oil lamps or ornate glass bottles or a particularly fancy ring or bracelet, though some carry lanterns or puzzle boxes. Some are accompanied by servants carrying their personal belongings so they don't have to burden themselves. One in particular sits seemingly weightlessly on a thick white cloud of smoke originating from the mouth of the fancy glass bottle her younger brother seems to be in charge of carrying.

For now, they can explore the city, try to track down the crew of the Invincible, or harder yet, try and get something useful from the market. There is that riot to deal with, though...

"...you'd never know there was a riot from these people. Don't see a single nervous face among them." Perched near the door, Kyrie looks over the scene just beyond the entrance; heading out without her armor feels a little unsettling, but there's no way she'd keep her leather on in this heat. "Though I guess there isn't much to worry about when you have a genie, mm?"

"We should probably make to the airship soon, there's no telling how long they'll stay here. Especially with the chaos; they'd probably rather Calamity not get caught up in it. But we ought to stock up too, we're running awfully low on water...what do you think?" She looks to the rest of the group, with a wary eye towards Rasmus in particular, imagining he's probably taking to this climate as well as they took to his.

Following the encounter at the gate, Triya had fished Sana's ring out of her gear and was now filling the djinn in on what little they knew. She sighed at Kyrie's words, "I hate to justify their complacency, but I think the riot comes before anything else. Somebody has to try and defuse the situation before it gets any worse."

"True," Sana put in, "Have we a plan, though? I don't think carrying a Big Stick will suffice on its own. Not with Paragons involved in the rioting." For once, Sana seemed decidedly serious.

Despite the heat and Kyrie's concern, Rasmus didn't seem too bothered by the heat. Perhaps it helped that he had no shirt on, and that his temperature was naturally lower than most. He did, however, seem to be sticking to the shadows wherever possible to the point that he would weave through the crowd and step away from the group wherever comfortable just for a brief moment of relief.

"Ughh... Finally! Lets find some water, yeah!" Oleai cheered as they got inside, quickly silenced by the mention of 'resolving' some riot of Clockwork people. Whom she had only ever met one.

"Can we.. hmm.. I mean, are they people we can just talk to or..?" Oleai asked as she pulled her poncho out of the wagon and tugged it over her head and ears. (Floppy floppy ears)

"Well, wherever we go lets stay together.. people know who we are now, and I don't want anyone getting hurt 'cause they were wandering around by themselves, okay?"

Beyond that, the lagomora followed along behind Triya and Sana on account of this being their homeland - surely they have the best idea of what to do next! Snickering at the shirtless Rasmus as he avoided the heat - sending the occasional breeze in the man's direction. For the first time in a while she wasn't a COMPLETE spectacle, even if she didn't see any other Plainsrunners, these folks seem to caught up in themselves to give much mind to the rabbitlady. "Triya, are these children all.. like you? I don't see too many grown folks. Why is that?"

With Oleai's question, Kyrie realizes the oddity, taking another look across the street and noticing just how many children are out compared to adults. Strange, yes, but there's sure to be some explanation. Perhaps most adults are working?

As for the decision, she shows no objection; she didn't even think to address the riot themselves, figuring it none of their business, but they may as well offer the help while here she supposes. Keeping near Oleai among the group, nodding with her suggestion to stay together, she looks over with a bit of surprise as she grabs her poncho. "In this heat? Won't that make it even worse?"

"I'm sorry, Rasmus," Triya said, looking chastened, "I didn't mean to drag the rest of you into this without asking. Sana and I have a role as Keepers of the Peace; we're expected to try and resolve any flare-ups of trouble. Although this is definitely the biggest I've been involved with. Some backup would be helpful, but I don't want to pressure anybody."

"The gaudily-dressed ones are prospective djinn," Sana confided to Oleai, blithely indifferent to her own rather showy garb, "The firstborn of the family, spoiled rotten and then sent off to be infused with ridiculous amounts of magic for the good of society. The younger siblings, of which there are generally a few, since large families are encouraged, get to grow up normally, like Triya did, and do more mundane things. Truly, it is a social system with which nothing could possibly go wrong." Sana's usual humour was once again back at the fore.

As the group debates, the flow of traffic doesn't change too much. Humans continue to come and go, and a Nekana merchant checks and double checks her wares, waiting for the market to settle.

More suspiciously, though...A woman with a gemmed longsword at her hip seems to be going out of her way to speak with any adult accompanied by a Firstborn. She's being discrete enough that she's waiting a few minutes between inquiries, but for a group who's watching her over a period of time...She's clearly looking into something to do with the djinn.

"... I think that merits a moment of our time, don't you?" Sana asked, before slipping smoothly and quietly through the crowd to sneak up behind the nosy woman. "Younger generation behaving themselves, are they?" she asked conversationally.

In the end, Triya had opted to perch on Sana's shoulder, feeling that this was the simplest way to be present and nominally in charge of Sana. She was curious as to the woman's motivations herself, but mindful that they didn't have much time to be spending on this. A reminder might be in order, in the face of djinn distractibility.

Rasmus was still thinking about the Djinn. The more he saw of the spoiled children, the less he liked the whole idea. Being the youngest of three kids may also have had something to do with it.

"..How come they make 'em Djinn, though? Aren't they for, like, wars and stuff? Who'd do that to a kid?" he asked aloud. With Sana and Triya focused on the suspicious woman, the question was directed toward the others instead.

"Uh...Yes." The Alchemist says, clearly not expecting someone to come to her. "Yes, they seem very...Well taught. I suppose you're one of the djinn teachers I'm looking for, given that a proper Djinn your age would have to be a little over one hundred years old." She reaches into the front pocket of her military jacket, pulling out a silver watch on a long, thick chain, displaying it as a form of ID. "Samantha van Arkwright." She says simply. "I need to speak with one of the djinni teachers concerning the Null investigation."

Oleai, Triya:

Spoiler:

Arkwright was part of the second team of Alchemists encroaching on the Talonguard Tower in Kokoniel, which Nezza ordered guards to intercept. From the sound of it, she was the homonculus handler for 'Sonata'. And where the handler is, the beast can't be far.

"Jieri Latel," Sana introduced herself, nodding in response. She was obviously quite willing to pass herself off as a teacher, rather than one of those ancient and fickle djinn. "Was there a particular teacher you were looking for, or will I do?"

Triya let Sana carry on with her deception, quietly keeping an eye out for Arkwright's Homunculus. It was a good bet that her wish to talk to somebody about the Null hunt was related to them, but if she hadn't made the connection yet, there was no need to enlighten her.

Wait, so Sana was just a normal human at one point? Oleai thought before noticing the group (and the Djinn) had walked away from her. She took a few easy strides to catch up (Lets no forget Plainsrunners are fast) just as Arkwright introduced herself.

The lagomora's ears stood upright and she was about to shout her surprise when Sana spoke and.. for once, Oleai found an air of subtlety. Still, her tail flattened and her lips scrunched up in poorly veiled hostility. At least, to people familiar with her. Maybe she was a grumpy Plainsrunner as far as Arkwright was concerned.

Instead, she listened for incoming trouble and was ready to create a windwall like before.

"We're looking for whatever information we can get on The Mother and The Daughter." Arkwright replies. "We're trying to locate them so that we can study them for the investigation and ultimately return them to Partia. From our understanding, their important cultural relics to the Djinn, but they may also be important to the Null investigation."

Kyrie:

Spoiler:

The Mother and the Daughter were among the items Lillen and Yandice found information of within the book, and one of the many pages they had copied.

Oleai:

Spoiler:

There's an odd buzzing in the background, and the wind itself seems...uncomfortable. The buzzing occasionally thrums and changes pitch slightly, but it never stops.

Triya and Sana:

Spoiler:

The Mother and The Daughter- Ancient Djinn relics that predate them as a culture. Said to belong to two of the first djinn in the history of Kinsera, the vessels themselves radiate power, enough so that when brought together, both resonate and seem to sing with the voices of a mother and daughter.

Furthermore, Triya's new elemental senses are going a little funky; the wind seems to be uneasy and the elements are in a slight state of upheaval.

Oleai balled her fists, charging up a faint crackle of energy in her palms. There's a calm breeze around her, and she approaches Kyrie - leaning down to damn near place her lips inside the Nekana's ear.

Arkwright's comment perks Kyrie's interest, drawing her full attention as Sana speaks with her. She tries to think back on what she remembers of the Mother and Daughter from the book, making a note to herself to review it first chance she gets. As she tries to dredge that one entry out from her mind, she tenses up at the sensation of Oleai just about puffing in her ear, extremely confused on her intentions for a brief second. About to shoot her a look, Oleai's words snap her out of it and her hand begins to stray towards one of her knives as she peers around the area for the first sign of the apparently-fast-approaching homunculus.

Kyrie looks around, and standing at the mouth of a nearby alleyway she fixes on a girl a little younger than herself. Short black hair and pale skin already make her stand out against the lighter hair and tanned skin of the townsfolk here, but her black eyes and the modified alchemists uniform she's wearing set her out even further.

But most importantly, as soon as Kyrie spots her, she gets an awful buzzing in her mind, like a million clockwork bees come to life at once. It stops as soon as she looks away, but takes a moment to fade completely. The good news is that Sonata seems to be staying put where she is, and that its safe enough so long as one's eyes don't focus directly onto her.

"The Mother and the Daughter?" Sana said, "I'm not sure any of us know as much about them as we would like; they're as much the stuff of legend as of history. I'll make some enquiries, but you shouldn't hold out too much hope. I am curious, though - what makes you think they're connected with Null?"

Triya swept her gaze about, looking for the source of the disturbance to her senses. Sonata, no doubt. It was interesting to know that the homunculus was a disturbance to the elemental forces. It certainly fit in with the creatures' otherworldly nature.

"We've found old records and texts indicating that the Null organization once took it upon themselves to collect artifacts of particular notoriety and power for safekeeping. Given the power held within the vessels on their own, it's not surprising they'd have interest in finding them if only to prevent a wayward genie from claiming that power for themselves."

"Interesting," Sana said thoughtfully, "You do wonder what other lost artifacts they've squirreled away over the years. In any case, we'll definitely look into it. Was there anything else you wanted to discuss?"

"No, that'll be all." Arkwright says, crossing her arms. "If you could supply any information to the Oasis Inn, we'll gladly make it worth your trouble."

She begins off down another side street, clearly angling to speak with more passers by.

Oleai:

Spoiler:

Your ears fill with a shifting static, like a radio coming into tune. After a moment, it focuses into the voice of a girl's voice whispering in your ear. "Liar liar she's a liar they're all lying they're not like you she's not like you run run RUN RUN RUN."

Kyrie:

Spoiler:

Your ears fill with a shifting static, like a radio coming into tune. After a moment, it focuses into the voice of a girl's voice whispering in your ear. "Liar liar she's a liar they're all lying they're not like you she's not like you run run RUN RUN RUN."

Kyrie winces as a sudden burst of static hits her; looking again towards the figure lurking in the shadows, she narrows her eyes, confused as to why she'd be "whispering" at her. The warning's unsettling, but the way it was given is even more so, and while it's certainly gotten her paranoid over Arkwright, she's not about to trust a homunculus with that little evidence.

She does give Arkwright a more appraising eye, however, looking for anything out of place; could she be Clockwork? Is that what the warning means?

Oleai reached up and tugged down on her ears. Can't we ever get a break? This was supposed to be fun. She shot a glance to Kyrie, who winced at the same time she had. Once Arkwright had gone, she speaks up. "Lets.. not go to that inn. We should just find that ship and not even stop her.. I think. Everything seems to fall apart at Inns."

Triya watched Arkwright go for a few moments. She wasn't altogether happy that the woman was going to continue her questioning, but raising a fuss about it wouldn't help. "Alright," she said at last, "The riot. We'll need to see if we can find somebody the rioters will listen to who might be willing to try and calm things down. I'd also like to know where the merchants are. They have some questions to answer. Assuming they haven't been caught up in the riot, they'll probably be trying to get somebody to take action."

With that, Triya set out in the general direction of the rioting, Sana trailing behind. If she found somebody to talk to about the situation along the way, well and good. Otherwise, she'd just have to accost one of the rioters and see where it got her.

With Triya at the helm, the group works their way towards the market, where things very quickly get louder and livelier. Situated in a basin near the center of the city proper, the group nears the lip of the marketplace and can see a sea of clockwork among the remains of many, many stalls, ruined wagons, and even some fires burning. Many merchants sit with their wares in carts at the top of the lip, afraid and unsure of what to do.

Also among the small crowd overlooking the riot is a pair of familiar faces...Or backs, as it were. The large, white, fluffy wings of Rhyme, as well as a human wearing Genin's armor, Isol.

"e's gotta be down there." Rhyme says, crossing her arms and flexing her wings slightly. "We could get th' bastard right 'ere an' now an' Cally'd never haveta know."

Isol gives her winged companion a sidelong look, shaking her head and turning back to the riots. Neither seems to have noticed the party behind them.

In quiet agreement with Oleai, Kyrie followed Triya through the crowds, still keeping a careful watch on all the locals as they go, still wondering what the warning - if it was even legitimate - meant, and hoping that its meaning will reveal itself in time. Not that she'd refrain from keeping a close eye on the crowds normally, of course, but at least now she has more of an excuse.

Once they reach the edge of the riot itself, the level of damage admittedly takes her a bit by surprise. She knew intellectually what was going on, but this is the first time she's seen such destruction within the bounds of a city without some form of natural disaster being involved. It's such a shock to her, it takes her a few moments before the Invincible crew and their conversation catch her attention. Something (well, someone) in the riot zone certainly seems to have them concerned; maybe some help now ought to soften them up for some questions about Null later? Plus, it might tweak Isol a bit.

With a slight smirk to Oleai, she slips ahead silently, stepping between and just behind the two of them, speaking up only when she's almost right near them. "Sounds like you two could use some help?"

As Kyrie makes herself known, Isol pulls her kunai in a flash, but then relaxes as she sees it's just the silly cat from before. Rhyme turns more slowly, careful not to blow anyone over with her extra appendages. "Oh!" she says cheerfully. "It's you! Uh...Nah, it's, uh, it's nothin'. Sorta a..." She looks to Isol, who responds with a glare. "Somethin' ova family thing..."

Giving Isol's dismissive look a slight smirk - she did just sneak up on the genin, after all - Kyrie looks back to Rhyme, smiling in return, slipping a small strip of paper just lifted off Isol into one pocket to check later. "Whose family? Calamity's? She's not mixed up in all...this, is she?" Motioning towards the riot, she gives a glance over the carnage, hoping not. She can't imagine her being involved in the actual fighting, but a 'brother' or 'sister', maybe?

"It's probably best not to take him out during the riot," Triya said, recalling well their prior conversation about Glory and sympathetic to the goal, if not the means, "That's the kind of scene which might make things worse."

"Oh, I don't know," Sana put in, "It's good cover. You just have to be creative."

"We're trying to stop the riot, remember? Not use it as cover for other things."

With that matter, at least, settled, Triya turned her full attention back to Rhyme and Isol, "You've probably got a decent sense of the dynamics here. Any suggestions how we could resolve things peacefully?"

"Well," Rhyme begins, turning back to the crowd, "They're pretty angry down there. Clockwork ain't treated like people mosta th' time an' it gets old real fast. Y'd be surprised how angry they can get about little stuff; specially Calamity. But what we do is, we take a lil' break an' sit down. Make time t' actually listen t' what she's gotta say." Rhyme makes a sour face as she thinks about how rare that must be. "Basically...we treat 'er like a person and not a thing. Little o' that goes a long way."

She turns, her sour face becoming downright angry. "But if Glory's down in there, it ain't gonna be that easy. 'e's a Paragon, like Calamity, so he's strong as all get-out an' he wants the humans to know it. He's gonna aim to whip this crowd inta some o' the old ultraviolence real quick."